Comfort Food

Made choucroute for the first time; and it definitely won't be the last time.  Such a comfort meal!

I played around with three or four different recipes to concoct one for the slow cooker.  This is what I layered:  1 lb slab of bacon, cut into 1" cubes, 4 lbs well-rinsed sauerkraut, bay leaf, fresh thyme, juniper berries, mix of sausages & kielbassa (about 5 lbs), topped with potatoes and Fiji apples, 3/4 bottle of Alsace Riesling.  Cooked on high for 2 hours and then low for about 5 hours.  Easy!  Served with pumpernickel bread and some great mustards (fig and date balsalmic; hot horseradish; dijon).  This was dinner for 6 and there were a ton of leftovers.

Don and Ana brought a delicious squash soup with shrimp; and Liz and Darcy brought a side salad to round out the meal.

Dessert was blood orange, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries drenched in chambord & served with ice cream, biscotti and Spanish Coffee.

Ossau Iraty - absolutely delicious!

Before sitting down at the table we sampled cheeses.  I brought out an Alsacian Munster that was particularly stinky; a beautiful chevre (Tomme de Chevre 137)  and a great Basque sheep's cheese called Ossau Iraty.  A dark chocolate berry bread  provided a unique contrast for the Munster.

Next time I do chourcroute in the slow cooker I will change up the sausage for more kielbossa and/or chops.   Another possibility would be to go "whole hog" and toss in some pigs' knuckles, tails, or hocks.

Sauerkraut is something I crave every once in awhile.  This humble ingredient has a noble past:  it's kept sailors from scurvy and brought winter Vitamin C to Europeans for centuries.  Cooking it in the Riesling sweetened it incredibly.  I wonder how sauerkraut simmered in a nice porter would fare?

Something tells me this dish will become one of my winter staples.